


Protagonist in a ℛσmαnce (- I thought my life was a thriller …)

by Shironoyasha



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Humor, Jiraiya is like Naruto's romance guru, M/M, Orochimaru wants to wrtie porn with Sasuke, POV Uchiha Sasuke, POV Uzumaki Naruto, Romance, Sasuke isn't romantic at all, Suigetsu is interested in Sasuke's sexlife, The icha icha paradise isn't the only thing in the world, Yaoi, life is a dick and so is Sasuke
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-31
Updated: 2020-08-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:07:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25628713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shironoyasha/pseuds/Shironoyasha
Summary: Sasuke has always been good with words, but what has served him as a writer in his branch has sometimes caused trouble with his fellow men in his private life. But suddenly he was no longer in demand, much to the suffering of his otherwise cool state of mind. As if that wasn't bad enough, his new publisher also wanted an atypical book from him: a ROMANCE, while he no longer knew where his head was, and then there was this damn writer's block! | Naruto x Sasuke | Yaoi | Lemon | 18Slash | Humor | Romance | and a bit of typical romance drama | Let's go on a journey from Sasuke to learn what a 'romance' actually means and why people love Jiraiya's books ... [I'm serious]
Relationships: Haruno Sakura & Uzumaki Naruto, Hoozuki Suigetsu & Uchiha Sasuke, Hoozuki Suigetsu/Karin, Jiraiya & Orochimaru & Tsunade (Naruto), Karin & Uchiha Sasuke, Uchiha Itachi & Uchiha Sasuke, Uchiha Sasuke/Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 6
Kudos: 11





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> My very first Fiction here!  
> First of all: English is not my native language, nor my second foreign language, it's my third and not my best. xD
> 
> THIS is going to be a story about Sasuke learning what a romance feels like and he has to open up more and stuff  
> His sarcasm and dry humor must not be missing.  
> I will also write Naruto's POV - soon 
> 
> I'm open to critics and suggestions for improvement. Tell me if there are any mistakes - please!
> 
> I hope you enjoy it!

_'That was just research ...',_ I kept saying in my head, like a mantra, while his hands resumed their wanderings from my shoulders, over my back, to my waist.  
  
He let go of my lips and started caressing my neck.  
  
What did he keep with the biting? Was that what turned him on? This was not my thing but I let him do it.  
  
Nothing here was my thing. At least I thought that a few months ago. Had I been told that I would go on clichéd luxury weekend trips and sit half-naked on another man's lap - and that it all came from me - I would have pulled the next best thing over the person's head.  
  
_Well. I didn't see it coming …_

  
  
It was a normal meeting: I was called, an appointment was made and they wanted to talk to me about the sales figures for my last work. Of course, they weren't bad. They were perfectly in line with the previous calculations. But that was exactly the problem. My latest work, that of a star writer, sold as calculated.  
Almost average.  
And unfortunately not for the first time ...  
  
"Sasuke, I'm sorry, that's just not what the masses want to read at the time," came the publisher's boss nonchalantly after we had been silent for a few minutes.  
  
He seemed to have hoped for more from my reaction to the numbers. Almost amused, he rolled lightly from side to side in his desk chair and nearly drove his glasses of ass crawler assistants over the feet. At least that was what his face suggested.  
  
"Of course it's not up to you ..."  
  
_Of course not..._  
  
"... you know, I think you write great! I always thought so, that's why I was happy to bring you to me as a promising young author and you didn't disappoint me, ” Orochimaru tried to reassure me.  
  
He could stick his slime somewhere else.  
  
"But ... just write something ... _happier_? Something people can put themselves in better. Where you can empathize with the protagonist, associate yourself with him ... "  
  
To be honest, I was able to put myself very well in my last protagonist. Just more than ever ...  
  
"Do you remember that I am known as a thriller writer and therefore with you?"  
  
"Of course I remember that, Sasuke." I hated it when he called me by my first name. I didn't know when we had reached that personal level and what made him feel that it was okay or appropriate; I disagreed.  
  
  
He definitely did it just to annoy me ...  
  
“But how about something that also reflects the emotional world of the readers. Something that makes them want that would be their life. For example, like Jiraiya. Even his older books are becoming increasingly popular now among people. "  
  
"Jiraiya writes porn," I immediately made it clear. It was nice to talk about, certainly. You could call it 'erotic novel' as what it was officially called.  
  
Or you noticed that in all of his books, more than two-thirds of the content is solely about describing sexual practices and that there was actually no coherent, reasonably logical action behind it. It was simply written pornography.  
  
"People like that."  
  
"They are all just horny and bored in their boring existence. They have no life and no meaning in life and want unrealistic love affairs. "  
  
"It may be, but it sells."  
  
I didn't understand his point. I couldn't just make such a big change in style. _And I didn't want to._  
  
I wrote thrillers. I always have. That was my niche and I moved in it brilliantly. Just because people thawed and started talking openly about their sexuality and lost more inhibitions didn't mean I had to write stories for their porn head cinemas.  
  
"You don't have to act like Jiraiya, I think we agree ..."  
  
As if he could have read my mind ... Maybe he also saw that my anger was serious and not part of my 'aggressive image' that his assistant liked to say.  
  
"... but maybe you shouldn't always plan the 'perfect murder' and focus more on human relationships"  
  
"My protagonist was not about murder, but about revenge and it came from interpersonal relationships." I was just beginning to doubt whether he read the things that his own publisher printed.  
  
"You killed quite a few people on the way to revenge."  
  
"Do you know the difference between _me_ as a writer and the so-called ' _lyrical self_ '?"  
  
"I'm not going into discussions with you, Sasuke," he said calmly, clasping his fingers. His smile never faded and the longer he looked at me like this, the more he pissed me off.  
  
"Honestly, I have a lot of need for discussion right now." I got up from the armchair and clapped my hands on the packed desk. An assistant's rabbit's foot flinched and the glasses he was about to clean fell from his hand. I skilfully ignored the loud clank, even though that would have been my moment for a happy smile. I didn't even feel like it at the moment.  
  
I was on it and punched the mountains of papers and manuscripts around his ears.  
  
"Then go to politics, Sasuke. This is _my_ publishing house and here I have the last word and I would like you to adjust a little. ”  
  
"..."  
  
  
****

**~ * ~**

"Now don't be so contrite. These are just initial difficulties. It'll sell even better, ” my older brother tried to cheer me up while I was bored and stirring in my coffee; which was pure show. There was nothing to stir in it. I just wanted to be busy before I throw anything against the wall ... which might even do good.

The thought of the individual keys in the office distributed to the former keyboard of my _former_ head of publishing gave me the corner of my mouth for a record-breaking second.

"I'm not contrite," I answered tonelessly. "I'm just bored with this endless babble" _And cooked inside ..._

Of course, I didn't tell my brother that I had just split up with my publisher and I would certainly never tell him that the boss had advised me to cut a disc from a porn writer. _So far it still comes ..._

"And did we really have to meet here? I'm getting sick of the sweet smell everywhere. ”I didn't even try to hide my dislike.

I knew Itachi liked sweets, but there were hundreds of places that didn't smell of caramelized sugar. I didn't know what this confectionery was doing, that it always stank of pure tooth decay and why Itachi was of all people, but besides this unpleasant smell, an order here was always a nerve wrack.

Every time we got the same incompetent service:  
Dressed to shine like the various editions, in which all kinds of pastries were. A free recipe for taste aberration and epileptic seizures due to the equally unnecessary lights everywhere.  
Just as straw-blonde as straw-stupid, no idea about the operation of the coffee machine and apparently no learning potential behind it.

Itachi still looked at me slightly worriedly, but said nothing and left my mood uncommented.

Actually, I wanted to pull myself together because he met me during his lunch break, at my request, but I didn't know what the day had in store for me.

He always had such a tight schedule, but he liked to take time for me, unlike when we were children.

But still, he always waited for me to start a conversation. He said that sometimes there was a great danger that I would not listen to my bad mood out of pure lack of interest. Such bullshit.

When I looked up, I saw Itachi still watching me. It was the same pitying look he'd given me when I was a kid when I got hurt. As if I would start crying ...

I couldn't hold back a sigh. I gave up.

"What does Mom say?" I finally tried a change of subject and even tried to sound a little sincere and took my first sip of the now lukewarm coffee. It tasted awful as usual.

I ignored the slight remorse because I rarely reported to our parents. At least I was sorry for our mother's sake.

She was always happy when I wrote a new book and even bought it, even though I brought her a copy. She said she wanted to support me with it, but actually, she only supported the publisher. The one who was allowed to fish the tattered manuscript of a poor pig out of the garbage and arrange it.

Or maybe they left it there. They were doing him a favor. Enough of my own has certainly landed there.

"You wouldn't have to ask me that all the time if you would visit her regularly," Itachi said with a laugh in her voice. Was it really one? I hardly knew what his laugh sounded like myself.

_An free, hearty laugh._

I didn't even know if he was able to do it at all. Had to be in the family.

As far as I can remember, he always had the gentle warm, sometimes sarcastic, the reserved laugh of an adult. Maybe it was just that? I wouldn't put my hand in the fire anyway. Before me, he always pretended to be an adult, even long before he was of age. I have already given up on persuading him to stop. At least he wasn't treating me as obviously as a child anymore.

"Thank you, I already know that I'm a bad son," I joked, not half as sarcastic as I would like it to be.

"You are not ...", he started to contradict.

We both knew he was lying.

As at the push of a button, I remembered more than a handful of moments when I was busier than I actually was. When I was in the middle of writing, I often left my phone switched off for days, sometimes even weeks, so as not to be distracted unnecessarily.

Of course, to my own dismay, I knew enough people who simply did not want to understand the hint with the fence post and still showed up at my door unannounced to make me go out.

Fortunately, our mom was not one of them. She respected my desired freedom and I was sure that sometimes she knew when I just didn't feel like coming home to argue with our father unnecessarily. He did not hide his disappointment with my career choice and criticized it at every opportunity.

So it could quickly take a few months before I voluntarily paid my mom a short visit.

There were readings that forced me to be outside the city, my favorite excuse ... because I couldn't help them.

"... it would be really nice if you could set it up," Itachi ended his lecture and looked at me expectantly. He wanted an answer. I made a slight face and nodded

reflexively.  
  
_I hadn't listened to him a bit ..._

  
  
  
I sighed and let myself fall against my apartment door.  
  
A meeting with Itachi, albeit a short one, was sometimes as liberating as it was exhausting ... _Especially when he was about to exhaust his full repertoire of encouraging wisdom._  
  
Nevertheless, every time I spoke to him I wanted to be better than before and was highly motivated to set everything and the world in motion to achieve my will.  
  
After all, he was my greatest support when I actually decided to try writing as a student. Besides my mother, of course, but mothers supported you in everything anyway. If I had given up my studies and struggled from one job to the next, she would have encouraged and supported me in that.  
  
Not long, of course, my father would have killed me early enough to escape the shame.  
  
It spoke for itself that I had asked Itachi not to tell our parents about the sobering impact of my latest works, because I could already hear our father's voice in my head.  
  
_'Find a decent job, at last, I let you study for nothing!'_  
  
_'How long are you going to waste your time with these tasteless stories?'_  
  
_'You are dependent on the moods of others. At least pretend you're building something for yourself. '_  
  
_'You will never be able to feed a family this way and offer them financial security.'_  
  
A purely hypothetical family, of course. With a purely hypothetical wife, whom I neither had nor wanted nor _knew about_.  
  
I was only twenty-six and, unlike him, had never thought even remotely of marrying, let alone starting a family.  
  
And then he would start again, that I should have given more to my studies and how Itachi should have started in the family business.  
_By coincidence_ , I would then be out of the country again for a very long reading trip.  
  
Just the thought of such a conversation, which was pretty much every conversation with my father, made my already bad mood sink even further.  
  
_A bath, something to drink, and then I'm done with everyone for today ..._  
  
I was actually not a fan of swimming. It took forever for the tub to fill up, the temperature was usually never right and it was incredibly boring, but I already knew that my nerves would literally turn my neck tomorrow if I didn't try to relax.  
  
Said and done.  
  
I placed a glass of wine on the table and dropped onto the couch while the answering machine played the messages.  
  
It was less than five minutes before I already regretted it.  
  
There were several calls, all from my publisher. In a way, from my _former_ boss.  
  
He called me and asked _if we could have a drink together to clarify our differences_. He would _like_ to try to _change my mind_. He falsely pronounced the S in my name and felt three times as long that it was really cold down my spine.  
  
"..."  
  
I hid my face in my hands. I just had a strong need to go back to the bathroom and drown myself ...  
  
These messages not only sounded clear and wrong but also made me angry.  
  
In a message, he tried to suggest to me, in a slightly more professional way, that trends were changeable. People and their interests were diverse and at some point, they looked for new areas of interest. It was no different from novels. At some point, you got the feeling you knew them all ...  
  
Not enough that in my novels, for his taste, too many people died and I should cut a slice off the best-selling author of a trashy novel, no. Now I had it as a recording that he found my stories increasingly similar and downright boring!  
  
The last message I listened to before I canceled my landline and disposed of the answering machine was that he seriously suggested helping me giving inspiration for a _suspected Jiraiya novel_ ...  
  
I will definitely look for another publisher, especially since it bordered on sexual harassment and to show him that just because he apparently was no longer interested in high-quality novels, I didn't have to write cheap trash all of a sudden!  
  
I wasn't forced to go to Hebi anyway, but it was true that he had supported me back when I was looking for a publisher for my first book.  
  
As my books became more and more successful, I also got offers from other publishers as to whether I might want to publish my next one with you. I would come back to that right now and present my new ideas to them.

  
  
  
Highly motivated and spurred on by no less offensive messages on my cell phone, I had a few conversations with publishers about a joint project with you.  
  
If there should be a decisive advantage to having already known works published, then it should be the so-called 'opening doors'. _Should..._  
  
They all invited me to an appointment, listened to me ... and refused.  
  
_They refused ..._  
  
One of the annoying assistants with a ridiculous bob cut that I couldn't get rid of when I practically stormed out of the office, chatted full that it wasn't just me. The popularity of the entire genre seemed to have slumped.  
  
People moved away from the struggle between good and evil. They were no longer interested in reading how society could turn the nicest person into an ice-cold monster. They wanted to see the nice side. They wanted to be blind to everything that went wrong with the world and I just felt like the whole game was going to start all over again ...

  
"I'm really sorry, to be honest, we already have enough crime fiction writers under contract," I got the next personal cancellation. The short-haired black-haired woman put my manuscript on which I had been working for the past few months - _was it really months?_ \- wrote to the side.  
  
For a long time now I had been looking for a publisher that was ready to print a novel in my preferred genre. Sleep avoided me and I could hardly move my head, let alone turn, the world got on my nerves. Not to mention my headache ...  
  
"I don't write crime novels, I write thrillers," I corrected them tonelessly. My mood had been at absolute zero for a few days, that it made no difference now whether I was hiding it or not. Nothing went as it should anyway.  
  
"Yes, okay ..." I just hid your words.  
  
"... but you have to understand ..." My mother was sitting on my neck again.  
  
"It's not that we don't ..." I wondered how many times I had to hear it.  
  
"Maybe try it on ..." Her voice alone annoyed me bestially.  
  
"... unfortunately, I can't do anything for you." That sounded like a closing word. _My keyword ..._  
  
"Thank you for taking the time for me," I mumbled and stood up.  
  
"Wait!" Another, a deeper female voice called after me and let me stop.  
  
"Say ...", the woman began hesitantly and I heard the steps of high-heeled shoes coming towards me. I turned on the doorstep and looked at her. She had long blonde hair that was tied into two simple braids.  
  
Not a typical hairstyle for an adult, it shot through my head. I involuntarily grimaced a little. The snippet she literally flaunted clearly said otherwise. You almost got scared.  
  
Her tone of voice and her serious, staring gaze told me that I would not like her next words.  
  
"Do you also write romance novels?"  
  
_"..."_  
  
_I knew it..._


	2. From star writer to newbie

The worst thing about publishing a new work was the time when there was nothing else to do but wait for the first critics to take their blow. Usually, I didn't care about their opinion anyway, but this time was different.

This time it pissed me off that everyone had something to complain about!  
_'Atmospheric, the novel falls short of its possibilities.'_  
_'Nice facade, nothing behind it.'_  
_'Just too anachronistic; like a story from a lost world. '_

I was about to throw this magazine across the room ... Who knows?  
Maybe I met the screaming child over there, then at least there was a reason to cry and the parents, who didn't give a shit anyway, would finally disappear with him. My head was pounding and this screaming was driving me crazy ...

"Don't always look so grim. That really destroys your day, ”my attention was distracted by the lines of pure harassment.

The hint with the fence post was once again skilfully ignored and two faces that were all too familiar to me sat down on the chairs around my little table, which fortunately remained empty untill now. They were just the last ones I wanted to see ... I actually didn't want to see anyone at all.

"I didn't ask you to sit with me ..." I said unimpressed and watched them over the edge of my sunglasses as they made themselves comfortable.

I was sitting here in the last corner of what is probably the ugliest shop in town, with sunglasses and a magazine in front of my fucking face. I couldn't make it even clearer that I wanted to be left alone. Nevertheless, my red-haired editor and her sadistic-looking, happy colleague were sitting with me.

_I absolutely didn't mind ..._

  
"You looked like you'd rather be alone," said our white-haired friend with a mischievous smile on his face and drank from his - I had no idea what that was - through a ridiculously ornate purple straw and looked at me almost challenging.

Hit the mark, congratulations!

"Maybe because I wanted exactly that?"

I did them a favor and just pretended that they were sitting with me for altruistic reasons.

"What are you actually doing in your 'favorite café'? You are the last one we would have expected here, ”distracted his red-haired companion from the topic. She looked around the neon-colored, circus-like seating area and looked back at me as if I were the evil here.

To be honest, it was hard for me to tell who had dragged whom here because they both drank embarrassingly colored shakes and watched me like a rarity. I was supposed to applaud them that even Suigetsu managed to make a straight face here.

"Itachi wanted to meet here but something came up," I replied with a shrug.

Maybe it was a good thing. I didn't think I explained my mood to Itachi or that he wanted to endure it when he was actually taking a break. He was probably fed up with me anyway.

I couldn't blame him.

"And then you just stayed here to spread your bad mood, right?" Karin sometimes sounded like a sarcastic mother who couldn't believe what stupid ideas her child actually had.

"Dark fog was literally around you. An aura of evil” added Suigetsu with a laugh.

Nice that despite my obviously perceived bad mood they were still laughing at me. I didn't know if that was kind of friendship, but they were happy to get on my nerves.

" _'ANBU-Ne_ '", read Karin and only now I noticed that she wasn't wearing her glasses today.

Probably contact lenses. It made her look younger. I didn't like it.  
"And since when have you been interested in literary magazines?" She asked, just as I was trying to read on and looked at the glossy page collection in my hands, which I usually like to comment negatively on.

"Since my last book seems to be a disaster," I hissed, throwing the magazine on the table, annoyed.

A loud clink of mine cut through the room and my coffee cup, at least what was leftover, spread out on the vomit-colored fleece floor and interrupted the child's crying, which had been going on for ages. All eyes turned to our table.

"HEY WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM?", A shrill, angry voice called from the counter to me.

"It wasn't on purpose," Karin tried to apologize with an underpinning gesture of defense in my place.

_I didn't even think about it._

"It was," I lied.

"The coffee is shit" - and that wasn't a lie.

"Then finally go somewhere else!" Shouted the blonde waitress and threw the towel with which he had just dried cups on the floor.

Really, very hygienic.

"Every time the same shit with that, believe it!", He continued to get excited. It was almost laughable.

"You are dependent on the money, maybe you can finally afford a renovation, then I do not need to go into the shop with sunglasses every time so as not to go blind." Actually, I needed it to read the ridiculously small font, but nobody needed to know.

"You could just leave your ass outside, that would be better for _everyone_!"

"NARUTO!" Shouted another, no less colorful, waitress admonishing the blond, smiling laughing number.

I pretended not to have heard the name because all my nicknames for him seemed more appropriate.

Suigetsu tried hard not to laugh out loud. Indeed, it was kind of funny. He got upset like a child, turned red and gestured with hands and feet. I narrowed my eyes and massaged my temples as his voice etched into my hearing.

_He was much worse than the child before..._

  
"Your mood is really at an all-time low if you are even kicked out of such a small café because you are an asshole." Suigetsu sighed annoyed as we walked down the street.

Even though he was tall and very thin, he was the laziest person I have ever met. He was the kind of person who waited half an hour for a bus station, just so that they didn't have to walk 500 meters. I also didn't understand why they came along. The owner had only asked me to leave.

"Yes, why actually?", Karin asked, audibly interested. "Didn't you have an appointment with a publisher the day before yesterday?"

I didn't want to have a conversation with my former editor at Hebi. I already knew that she had told Orochimaru about my pathetic search, so I didn't have to listen to my mailbox anymore.

"Again?" Suigetsu's level of surprise was roughly mine when I had to make appointments one after the other in various publishers. In the meantime, I was even ready to look outside the city.

"With 'Senju' right?" I looked at her in surprise.

I didn't know where Karin got this information from. I hadn't spoken to anyone about which publishers I was targeting and which I wasn't. I could have sworn I hadn't told her about a new appointment at all to reduce the extent of my failure.

"Don't they just make you smile? Orochimaru would give anything to print such a book with you, he would certainly even do the editing himself, ”laughed Suigetsu jokingly.

"I'm sure of that ..." I mumbled, but Karin was already talking.

"No, not only. They had once offered Sasuke to bring a book out with them. ”My eyes darkened.

Yes, they had, but apparently, it had become void by now because people wanted eroticism. It was also nice to see that Karin knew enough that I didn't have to add anything to the conversation, even though it was really about me.

"Why do you always tell Karin so much and not me?" He sounded outraged. He even took the straw out of his mouth for the first time to underline his seriousness, I guess.

"I'm not telling her that much ..." I said tonelessly and aimed at a small restaurant on the corner. Although I was not a fan of outside terraces, it was too warm and oppressive to sit indoors in such small places.

"Because at least I'm listening and not immediately using it against him!"

I did not know that she could read my mind, because I was now very sure that I had never told her about Senju and her offer back then. Why should I tell my current publisher about offers from others?

"I don't use anything against him!"

"You do that with everything. The main thing is that you have something to laugh about, regardless of whether the other person wants to hear it. Sometimes you are really tactless. "

A waitress took the order for our drinks and, thank God, interrupted their budding argument. I had escaped from hell with the child and the giant baby and now I had the two arguments with me. Today was a really bad day. It was actually a bad week.  
_The whole year was really shitty ..._

For the fact that they went out with each other, they did a lot of stuff and I often felt that it was somehow my fault. Well, it wasn't my problem if they were constantly at odds. It wasn't like I would contribute much to the conversation. I just had to exist and Karin already knew everything. I didn't know if I should talk to her about how strange that was. I didn't really want to know the answer, even if I could imagine it ...

"Seriously, how much would you get from them for such a love muzzle?" Asked the white-haired man nonchalantly and simply broke off the discussion with his colleague; which made them angrier.

"I don't know, I didn't ask and I don't care because I won't do it," I replied after Karin didn't say a word.

I was almost surprised.

"Seriously? You didn't even ask about the money? "  
"It's not about money!" Even if I didn't, I wouldn't talk to them about it. I could imagine that everything I told them, in the end, knew Orochimaru and secretly laughed for it.

"Maybe you should think about it again. Your apartment and your lifestyle cannot be paid for automatically, ”said Suigetsu thoughtfully. There was an unusual seriousness in his voice.

"My _lifestyle_?"

"You are constantly on the move. I bet your fridge doesn't even know what it's like to store food. ”

"That's not even true."

"You will only entrench yourself for weeks if you write, but if you have nothing to do your mail will only pile up like this."

“That's because I go to readings. I do a little more than once a year. "

"What! This is your favorite excuse if you are not in the mood to maintain social contacts. "

That too.

"You must have been sitting in this café for hours before we sat down with this magazine and with such a serious expression as if it were your Bible."

"You are in a worse mood than normal and even less sociable and hardly say anything. If you are not on the point of writing something new and dealing with your book as soon as it comes out, you have nothing to do, ”Karin agreed.

Was there any other topic she could talk about that I wasn't involved in? The picture they drew from me sounded very far-fetched to me. It could also occur to them that I just don't feel like going senselessly among people - including them.

"Seriously. Do you have any hobbies other than writing? "

"Writing is very time-consuming."

"Otherwise you are with Hebi all the time and have even read and criticized manuscripts although it was none of your business; that falls away now. "As much as I was a subject on which they disagreed, so much they probably agreed on me ...

"You travel a lot 'with your books'" I just ignored his sarcasm. "And I think I haven't seen you go on a date in months." Karin gave me an indefinable look. I didn't know if it was doubt or anger.

"That's because I don't go on dates," I concluded the topic about my private life and dealt with the menu, just to show them my lack of interest in continuing this conversation.

Karin looked almost relieved.

"Sasuke ... busy yourself. If you don't write you are absolutely useless. You are already reading these hated critics! ”Her tone made it sound as if I was about to buy ten cats and would say that I could receive voices from space through my toaster.

"You always broke a story in the back of your mind that spins in your mind by itself. If nobody wants to read a thriller, try a drama or something. That's not your thing either, but you can still live out your negativity. "

"Or you open up the genre of a so-called psycho-romance, in which a mentally ill person chases a love affair in his own quirky way," laughed Suigetsu but I was no longer listening. I did not notice the waitress next to us, who evaporated slightly annoyed when I continued to accidentally ignore it.

Maybe it was really time to get out of his stuck rails. Sometimes you just had to leave your comfort zones ...

Actually, it was really miserable to show up unannounced three days after you just left without saying a word, it shot through my head when I walked through the glass doors of the white building complex.

I didn't think much of email. As penetrating as it sounded, once you were there, they usually couldn't bring themselves to send you away. Although I didn't understand where the problem was. They just didn't do it.

I skeptically glanced at my car, which I still believed to be in danger before I got into the elevator. I was just outside Konohas and had no idea about the competent district court, which I would almost have had to deal with in the near future when such an old bag just shot out of its parking space. He just grinned wide at me through the window and started laughing when I yelled at him angrily.  
I strongly doubted that his pension could have paid for the damage ...

Apart from the fact that I had no hope of succeeding in Karin's suggestion of another genre with a romantic love affair in the closer focus anyway, my mood was no better.  
But it was worth a try ...

"I'm not interested in a drama," I got my usual unpleasant answer from the ninth floor a few minutes later.

I tried not to throw myself in the seat, groaning. Why wasn't I surprised?

"Sasuke ..." _Which brought us back to the first name thing ..._ "It is difficult to change the style, I know and I can well imagine how you feel about it ..." Her tone was anything but sensitive.

I couldn't stop a contemptuous snort.  
"I dare to doubt that," I interrupted, almost amused when she wanted to continue talking. But only _almost_.

It was actually hard for me to imagine that she or anyone else was interested in what I wrote. For her, it was only a matter of stringing together some reasonably beautiful-sounding words and writing down any story anybody had ever heard in any adaptation. They simply couldn't understand that it was much more than just writing a meaningless story. It didn't interest them at all, as long as it sold well, I assumed if I wanted to believe Orochimaru and the other publishers.

"A thriller, thriller, horror, or drama currently does not fit into the publisher's program, so you don't have to hope for special treatment from me. Neither here nor by many others. Others may be interested in getting your name and the guaranteed sales figures, but that will not make you or them happy if the forecasts about the buying behavior of the readers come true. "

"Still, I would like you to write a book with us." That sounded less like an offer than a decision if I was honest.

I shook my head slightly, feeling uncomfortable that she was actually showing off her neckline as she leaned against her desk, though unwittingly. I could not explain exactly what she expected from it. It was distracting in the first place and almost intimidating.

"You write your books passionately, you can tell," she continued, no less seriously. Her demeanor did not match the authority she exuded and how sobering her tone was.

"Oh, did you read them?" Did I sound unconvinced? Possibly.

"Of course I have. I like to be well informed about the new releases." _Of course ..._

Just because she made a statement without any content, I didn't believe a word. I only knew this slime from Orochimaru well. I didn't need to read teen magazines to know it was just garbage. A writer who is not passionate about his work should look for a new profession.

"Then you understand why I reject your question. I'm not writing a romance novel for you. ”It sounded a little wrong in my ears.

"I know how you think ..." _Now getting I'm curious ... not.  
_

"You think like a stubborn child who no longer gets the desired recognition."

"Recognition? Are you serious? ”She could have given me something more creative out of my avoidable ideas.

"You are ambitious. You always want to outdo someone. Your next book should best put your previous book in the shade and in every story, you add an extra level of action and brutality ... But sometimes less is more. ”

"I didn't come here to get more criticism from you," I pressed out through clenched teeth. If I wanted to hear more criticism, I could just buy every literary gossip in the city. Or I went back to Orochimaru, who must have had enough things to bother him about it.

"No, you came here because you wanted to try to get your way through, but you can remove that. I'm not giving you a niche to squeeze into, not a loophole just so you can show it to your previous publisher. Yes, I am quite aware of this. Why else should you look for a new publisher immediately after you have published a new book? "

I didn't answer. All I could do was look at her and try not to just get up and go again.

_Maybe I should just do it, I didn't have to give myself that shit_ ... But I stayed seated.

"At least I still offer you the chance to try a change of genre, even though it is hard for me to imagine how you would simply put together a highly romantic novel based on such books."

Until now, it sounded curious and interested. Apparently, it was just her mood.

"I tell you you did not come here to make this half-hearted proposal, but because you want to be convinced," said the blonde publisher and stood up.

"You want to prove that you are able to write something else that is better than what you see in the shop windows. You think that a romance novel is easy to write and that anyone can do it, especially if Jiraiya's simple novels are more popular with readers than his literary ones. ”I could hear sincere anger in her voice while she was around Table came up to me.

She sat on the edge of her desk in front of me and crossed her arms over her chest. I didn't know that was still possible for them.

It was hard for me to imagine that Jiraiya had written 'literarily usable' works, so on the side.

"You are not an unknown author, just like Jiraiya and you can write well, but you are inexperienced in this area and ... unknown. Yes, it probably does it quite well. If people suddenly see your name in New or Young Adult novels, I can’t imagine what they’re going to think. ”

_I didn't want to imagine it at all ..._

“After your last books contained some brutal scenes that were also disturbingly detailed, this change of style can actually bring something negative for you. The critics will pounce on you immediately, curious as they are. So I think your concern about your 'image' is well-founded. ”

It wasn't just an 'image'. It was about the fact that I could not imagine writing something like that and did not know how I could even look at anyone afterward.

"I think you should see it like acting: you can't always play the role of life. Success has something to do with changeability and complexity. "

"Is that so..."

"You are very arrogant about your age ..." She reminded me of one of my former teachers who had me and 'my nine times smart way' in the box, so I knew that such a discussion was useless.

"So you really want me to try a romance novel." If she were the only one who asked me to do that, I would laugh shamelessly in her face.

"I actually want that from you, yes. Has something charming, right? A challenge."

Very challenging indeed. Attractive, not a piece ...

"Let's say we both just give it a try. You start designing a plot and when you have the first chapter you come back in and we can discuss everything else. ”

"Is this fun for you ...?" I didn't feel like laughing at all.

"It would be interesting to see how you deal with this task, yes. It will be determined ... fun. Definitely different. "

_Different does not necessarily mean good ..._

"Is this an experiment for you? A game?"

"Could you say so ... I like to bet on risky games."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope it wasn't that boring as it feels like - for me xD
> 
> I'm currently working on the next chapter - it's time for Naruto to join the stage!!
> 
> wish you a nice hot summer week!

**Author's Note:**

> That irony... 'written porn' - we all know where this is going sooner or later so... no words needed xD [sadly not for 2/3]
> 
> But that was a brief glimpse into Sasuke's life, which is now being turned upside down :D
> 
> Who immediately thought of Naruto there?


End file.
